


Falling Slowly

by heytheregisela



Series: Bending The Rules [3]
Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter RPF
Genre: M/M, joelay fluff, just to show how their friendship/feelings happened, so fluff, yeah fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-05
Updated: 2015-09-02
Packaged: 2018-02-16 06:57:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 10,206
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2260212
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/heytheregisela/pseuds/heytheregisela
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Takes place in the same world as Bend The Rules, and shows how exactly Ray and Joel got to where they are now in the sequel - A Week's Worth. Or, in which Ray gets a job at Rooster Teeth and gets close to Joel, and they are both oblivious to their feelings for each other, but their friends, specifically Michael, are not.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Part one

**Author's Note:**

> Someone, what feels like forever ago, suggested I write Joelay in the same time that Bend The Rules series takes place. So here we are. I'm planning this as three parts for now, might end up being more, but I wouldn't go past five. This will fill in spots to understand the Joelay more in the sequel :) The title is from [this song](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W0lIdr5TsaU%22) !!

**September 17, 2014**

Michael opened the front doors that led into the Rooster Teeth building, wearing a proud smile and holding his head up high. He stepped aside, holding the door open as he gestured towards the hallway.

 “Your destiny awaits,” he said in his best dramatic voice and Ray laughed as he stepped inside.

“No pressure, right?” Ray asked as he and Michael started walking.

“Oh, no,” Michael shook his head, “none at all. Matt and Burnie are cool, as long as you're cool with them.” He patted his best friend's back.

“You're lucky you had Geoff to help you out.”

“And so will you! Geoff's gonna be in the room, too.”

Ray halted in his tracks and looked wide eyed at Michael. Michael had to smile from being able to see the hint of hope in those eyes.

“So good luck and try not to fuck this up too much,” he said to Ray before walking into the Achievement Hunter office.

“But-” Ray sighed, not even wanting to bother with finishing his sentence.

Everything would be fine. Geoff was going to be there. He knew Geoff. Geoff knew him. Yes, this would be easy. But this was also the first real job interview Ray had ever been to, and he felt crazy that he decided to go for it instead of that job at GameStop. Getting hired at a game store felt more realistic than getting hired at Rooster Teeth, but Michael seemed confident enough in him that it kind of pushed Ray to go for it.

He took a deep breath and started heading down the hall. He didn't bother looking at anyone who passed him by, since he had one goal and one goal only – to get to Matt's office, sit down in front of him, Burnie, and thankfully, Geoff, and do his best to impress them.

With that mental thought, Ray was much too distracted that he didn't see the person he bumped shoulders with. He heard a spill of liquid and immediately looked down to see some coffee on the floor, because he had hit the person hard enough to make them almost drop their drink.

Damn.

“Oh, man, I'm sorry,” Ray said, looking everywhere, frantically, for a towel or something that he could clean the mess up with.

“Hey, it's fine,” the person said, and Ray paused. That voice was familiar.

Ray looked up and was met with Joel, smiling at him slightly. Joel pointed at him as he squinted his eyes, clearly thinking about something that Ray suddenly felt like being anywhere but there.

“I know you, don't I?” Joel asked.

Ray breathed out a laugh and nodded. “Uh, yeah, kind of. I'm Ray. I'm... or was, whatever, Gavin's friend.”

“Oh!” Joel raised his eyebrows. “Right. You came in that one day for that tour.”

The corners of Ray's lips rose. “Yeah that was me.”

Joel was grinning now and Ray had to avert his eyes.

“So what are you doing here now?” Joel asked him. “Visiting Michael, I assume?”

“No,” Ray answered, “I'm actually here for an interview that I should really be getting to now. I know a good first impression with job interviews is showing up early and I'm...” he took out his phone to check the time, “officially going to be right on time. Well, then. I guessed I messed up that first impression already.”

“The fact that you showed up, dressed the way you are,” Joel spoke, “You'll be fine.”

Ray sighed and looked at Joel again. “You think so?”

“Yeah, now, go ahead and try not to be too nervous,” Joel told him as he nodded towards the stairs, “and I'll clean this up.”

“Man, again, I'm sorry about that-”

“Hey, no problem. You can make it up to me by bringing me a new fresh cup of coffee after your interview so you can also let me know how that went.”

Ray furrowed his eyebrows. He was sure Joel was kidding about that last part, because why would he care? But Ray nodded and headed off, though he glanced at Joel one more time and smiled to himself.

 

* * *

 

What even happened during that interview? Ray could hardly remember as he walked out of Matt's office and closed the door behind him.

Okay, there were the usual questions anyone could expect to get during an interview; “How do you plan on helping us here at Rooster Teeth?”, “Where do you see yourself in five years?”, etc.

Then there were the tricky questions, the ones Matt, Burnie, and Geoff came up with on their own at, what seemed like, on the spot.

It was fine, though. Ray made sure to be honest and to be himself. If they didn't like him, well, at least he didn't fail from trying to be someone different.

With a shrug, Ray headed into the kitchen because he certainly didn't forget that he owed a certain someone a new cup of coffee. He felt a bit out of place using the coffee maker even though he didn't work there, but no one seemed to mind as they went about doing their own business. A part of him kept hoping Barbara, Lindsay, or Michael would show up and save him from being uncomfortable, but he knew they were busy with their own work to hang out with him in the kitchen.

As Ray poured the coffee into a cup, he heard someone walk in and say, “Ray!”

Ray jumped and almost dropped the cup, but he held onto it and looked at who had called him.

“Oh, hey, Geoff,” Ray casually said, until he realized how he probably looked – using what belonged to the company even though he wasn't part of it. He wasn't allowed to just walk in there and _use_ anything he wanted.

“I- uh...” Ray tried searching for the right words, “This isn't what it looks like. I-”

“Forget it,” Geoff waved him off, “I'm here to give you some news, and I'm glad you're actually still here and didn't just leave.”

“Well, Michael drove me here so... I was hoping he could quickly give me a ride back to my house...”

Geoff raised an eyebrow, then opened his mouth and nodded. “Oh, right, he took Griffon's car.”

“Yeah,” Ray nodded as well.

The silence that filled the room was too unbearable and Ray wanted to say just about anything to get rid of it, but then Geoff was talking again.

“Anyway, about the news,” he said.

Ray gulped. “What is it?”

Geoff smiled softly and held out his hand. “Welcome to Rooster Teeth, Ray.” And his smile widened.

Ray blinked, then looked back and forth from Geoff's hand and his face until it finally clicked to him.

“Oh, holy shit,” he said under his breath, and that's when he realized he was still holding the cup of coffee in one hand and the coffee pot in the other. He turned to the counter and put them both down before spinning back to face Geoff.

“Thank you so much,” he said as he grabbed Geoff's hand and began to shake it.

Geoff laughed and nodded. “No problem, buddy. I really want you apart of Achievement Hunter and I know you do as well. I think you'll fit right in, and hey, I bet you'll become the favorite one in no time.”

Ray grinned. “The favorite one?” He let go of Geoff's hand, “Yeah, well, we'll see about that.” He took a deep breath, still in shock of the news, and his eyes brightened. He grabbed the cup of coffee and asked, “What office does Joel work in?”

Geoff looked at him suspiciously, but he decided not to question it and simply told Ray where.

“Thank you,” Ray said as he started heading out of there, but he stopped midway to look at Geoff again, “And just again, thank you _so_ much, Geoff. I won't let you down.”

“Oh, you will,” Geoff smirked.

Ray laughed, and then he nodded. “Yeah, probably.” Then he was off.

He practically barged into the room where Joel sat, staring intently at his computer screen. No one else was in the room at the moment, and Ray was glad for that, because he was much too excited to hold it in.

Joel looked up and noticed him. “Hey,” he said as he took off his headphones. “Got my coffee?” He smiled playfully.

Ray held up the cup and hurried over to him. Joel couldn't contain his laughter.

“I hope you know that I wasn't serious about you getting me coffee,” Joel told him through his laughs.

Ray smiled at him. “I figured,” he said, “but I felt like I should anyway. Hope you weren't kidding about that last thing you said, though.”

Joel took a deep breath, finally able to calm himself from laughing. He took the cup from Ray's hand and looked at him with a raised eyebrow.

“You know,” Ray said, “the part where you said I should tell you how my... interview went,” he didn't know why, but he could feel his cheeks warming up.

“Ohhh!” Joel nodded. “Yeah, take a seat and tell me.”

Ray grabbed the first empty chair he found and scooted it closer to Joel before sitting in it.

“I thought I definitely fucked up,” Ray admitted, sighing deeply, and Joel frowned. “I answered the questions to the best of my ability, but I still felt like I could have done better. Then again, I can barely remember what exactly happened. It _just_ happened and I already forgot.”

“Did you try to make yourself forget because you thought it went horribly?” Joel asked.

Ray shrugged. “Probably,” he smiled and scooted his chair a bit closer, “But actually, while I was getting you that coffee, Geoff walked in and...” Ray looked down as he smiled bigger.

Joel was curious now as he leaned closer to Ray and asked, “And what?”

Ray laughed quietly and looked up, but he didn't expect to see Joel's face inches from his. His eyes widened, but he kept the smile on his face.

“I'm hired,” he almost whispered.

Joel grinned a little lopsidedly and Ray wanted to look away, but he couldn't.

“You're like the first coworker I'm happy to work with,” Joel joked.

Ray barely laughed, and not because that wasn't funny, but because he felt too indulged with staring into Joel's eyes and concentrating on how close they were. Which was weird...

The door to that office had stayed open from Ray not bothering to have closed it when he walked in and as Michael walked by on his way to go find Lindsay, he peeked in out of habit and continued to walk a little more until he froze.

Did he just see what he thought he saw?

Michael furrowed his eyebrows as he looked at the doorway, but he knew he couldn't look in there again. The first time was just a simple glance. The second time would be actual spying.

But if Michael had been seeing things correctly, he really just saw Ray and Joel together, seeming very... _cozy._

Michael smiled and shook his head before walking off.

“Well,” Ray said as he forced himself to scoot away from Joel and stand up. “I should go tell Michael the news. Bet he'll flip his shit because I think he felt lonely in the Achievement Hunter office from being the youngest one there and all.”

Joel smiled up at Ray an nodded. “Yeah, go tell him, and congratulations. You'll do great here.”

Ray stumbled as he tried backing out of the room from not paying attention to the path, but he quickly regained himself, yet Joel laughed to himself anyway at the sight.

“Thanks,” Ray said, scratching the back of his head. “Bye.” He turned around and walked out, but he heard Joel say, “See you around, Ray.”

Ray stopped walking once he was out in the hallway to rub his face. He had only met Joel once before, and they only said maybe two words to each other? But there was something about Joel that made Ray feel like he was some good friend, someone he could talk to without the whole slow process of having to get to know them first. It was as if they already knew each other, and Ray didn't know how to feel about that.

 


	2. Part two

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This took me OVER A MONTH TO UPDATE!!! And I do apologize for that. I started writing a bunch of over things and couldn't find the inspiration for this one, but last night and this morning, the inspiration hit me. That probably had to do with reading a nice and lengthy Joelay fic that made me feel things. I guess this is bit of a challenge for me to write since it's completely centered around Joelay and I'm still trying to get confident with writing them together, but I'm getting there!! The last part shouldn't take over a month like this one did. Thanks for sticking around!!

**December 22, 2014**

“Ray, I told you on Friday that you didn't have to come into work today,” Geoff said to Ray as he entered the Achievement Hunter office that Monday morning. Ray looked at his boss with a smile.

“Yeah, but if I stayed home and came back after Christmas, I'd have _this_ to come back to,” he said as he gestured towards the video on his screen.

Geoff sighed and shrugged. “Fair enough.” He went ahead and sat at his own desk to get to work on a few things.

They mainly began to mind their own business, trying their best to finish up their work to get things done on time for future releases. Being so concentrated in what he was doing, Ray didn't even notice when Gus and Joel entered the small office to talk to Geoff. The audio from the video had blocked out every other noise, so Ray kept his focus.

Joel, however, couldn't quite keep his. He was currently sitting in Jack's chair as Gus merely stood next to Geoff, and every now and so, Joel would find himself glancing over at the youngest lad. Ray had such a strenuous look, one that consisted of furrowed eyebrows and pursed lips, even a bit of squinty eyes. It was quite amusing to see, which was probably why Joel wouldn't stop staring.

As Gus began to dwell deeper into a certain topic of conversation with Geoff that Joel found no interest in, Joel got up from the chair and walked over to Michael's desk. Ray felt the presence appear next to him and he paused the video before looking to his right to find Joel sitting there now.

“Oh, hey,” he greeted, slowly taking off his headphones and resting them around his neck.

“You look busy,” Joel commented while gesturing towards the computer screen.

Ray looked at what he had accomplished so far, then grinned and faced the other again. “I had nothing better to do at home, so I figured I'd come in today,” he explained.

Joel nodded. “Did you walk? I mean, I know you don't drive, because you're lazy to learn,” his tone was so serious, yet with a hint of humor and Ray had to smile.

“It's not laziness,” Ray defended, “It's uh... it's just...” though he sighed and shook his head. “Yeah, you're not. I'm fucking lazy and just don't care.” Joel raised his eyebrows and Ray began to laugh, but it didn't even take long at all for the corners of Joel's mouth to rise into a grin.

“Do you have any plans for Christmas? Or New Years eve?”

“Last year, on New Years, Barbara had a pretty fun party at her house...” Ray trailed off as he looked away, thoughts of that party coming back to him. “I don't drink and apparently, neither should Michael. Ever.”

Joel blinked and stared at Ray with a blank expression, but after a bit of going over that in his mind, it finally made sense. “Oh,” he mouthed.

“Yeah, _oh_ ,” Ray laughed. He took a deep breath and turned a little in his chair to face Joel better. “So, if Barb, or any other my friends, throws a party, then I'm set for New Years eve. Christmas?” He shrugged. “Probably the same shit we do every year; just stay at home and have a little family reunion with some relatives that decided to spend the holiday with us.”

Joel made a face of disgust and Ray almost wanted to laugh again.

“Jeez, Ray, that sounds depressing,” Joel said.

“Yeah, I know. My life is _exciting_.”

“Hey, maybe you'll get something you wanted!”

“I don't care for that anymore,” Ray admitted. He paused, though, and started to think over what he just said. “Well... I guess it would be cool to get this mug I saw online the other day. It was this Tetris mug that the game lights up on when you pour any sort of warm drink into it. Can't get any better than that.”

Joel nodded as he listened and Ray couldn't help but notice the hint of smile appearing on his face. He was going to question it, but then he figured it was best if he didn't, since it probably meant nothing. 

With Joel, though, it was a little difficult to tell what meant something and what didn't; at least that's what Ray figured out about him in the time since he started working there. 

The two usually found themselves in conversation during their breaks, which would sometimes cause their breaks to be longer than needed. That would happen due to losing track of time, but that was just what happened when you genuinely liked talking to someone, and Ray did genuinely like talking to Joel. Joel was a sort of breath of fresh air around the office; he wasn't rude, but he wasn't extremely nice, either, and it wasn't that he was  _different_ or  _special_ , but it was that he had this ability to make anyone feel automatically comfortable around him. Ray hardly knew him, but within the span of working at Rooster Teeth for a few weeks, he didn't feel awkward finding himself alone with Joel.

With anyone else that he didn't already know before working there, he did feel awkward, because he didn't know what to talk to them about, or if he should talk to them at all. 

And Joel, well, even if he had nothing to talk to someone about, he would  _find_ something to bring up, and he would do it in a way that felt natural – not forced. 

“What about you?” Ray asked. “What are your plans?”

Joel sighed and rubbed his chin as he seemed to think about it; Ray rubbed his own chin. 

Noticing that, Joel stopped and asked, “Are you trying to make fun of me?”

“Hmm, not really. I was just wondering if doing this make me look smart.”

“Wait, why would it?”

“I don't know,” Ray shrugged. “Isn't that why you do it?” 

Joel gaped at him at first, but then he glanced at Geoff and Gus before leaning in closer to Ray. “No one was supposed to know that,” he whispered, making Ray smirk in amusement, “So, we have to keep that between us. I like people thinking I'm smart.”

Ray snickered and Joel just pouted at him. 

Ray inhaled a sharp breath as he sternly said, “Shut up.” Joel couldn't even try holding in his laugh. 

“Anyway, Joel and I should get back to what we were doing,” Gus said to Geoff as he started heading for the door. 

Joel sighed, and maybe Ray was imagining things, but it was a sigh that sounded defeated. He watched as the older man jumped up from Michael's chair and walked towards Gus. They both stood at the door as Gus said one last thing to Geoff, something Ray wasn't even paying any attention to; he was too concentrated on detecting the expression on Joel's face. Joel shifted his gaze from Geoff to Ray, but Ray shook his head and quickly turned away after only a few seconds of eye contact. 

He sat there, staring, but not  _really_ staring, at his screen. The moment he heard Gus and Joel to exit the little office, he swallowed the lump in his throat and put his headphones back on. 

_Back to work_ , he told himself. 

Geoff raised an eyebrow as he looked at Ray for a moment, but then he smiled and turned back to his computer screen to also continue editing. 

 

* * *

 

** December 24, 2014 **

Christmas eve was always spent greeting whoever would end up arriving at their doorstep, and Ray was the one to greet them, since his mom was too busy getting appetizers ready. His dad could easily answer the door, but he resorted to “having to get more decorations up” or some other ridiculous task that suddenly had to be done on Christmas eve.

Ray tried not to mind. He tried putting a smile on for everyone, but when the questions started coming out and the embarrassing little compliments wouldn't stop, a smile would become too difficult to fake. The relatives would then go into the kitchen to greet Mrs. Narvaez, hugging her and  _insisting_ she stopped making food, because they weren't hungry – even though they just ended up eating everything she set out for them. 

It was as if Christmas was put on the exact repeat every year for Ray. Sure it was nice and the food was great, but it was merely  _ too _ expected and he was bored. He stood in the entryway with his arms crossed as he watched everyone get settled into the living room. They were all talking, each of them trying to bring up different topics at the same time that Ray raised an eyebrow and listened closely in an attempt to make out what at least  _ one  _ of them was talking about. His aunts had a habit of talking much too fast and his uncles laughed so loudly, so attempting to get what they were all saying was nearly impossible, and Ray would end up confused – just like every year. 

He was ready to head to his bedroom when the doorbell rang again, which, admittedly, was a little weird. No one else seemed to notice, though, or cared, so Ray walked over and answered it. 

A smile crossed his face when he saw who was on the other side.

Michael stood there, holding a gold bag with red and green tissue paper sticking out from it, and he returned the smile Ray was giving him. 

“Merry Christmas,” he cheered in a singsong voice, handing over the bag to Ray.

Ray shook his head and took the gift from him, “Thanks, but you didn't have to...”

“Why? Because you didn't?” For a moment, the question sounded serious, so Ray opened his mouth to apologize until he remembered who he was talking to.

“Yeah, that's _exactly_ why,” he told Michael, not holding back any humor in his tone.

Michael rolled his eyes, smiling a little lopsidedly. That smile was quickly replaced with a look of shock when he heard the mad laughter coming from inside. 

“Ah, I take it the gang's all here?” 

Ray just nodded. He looked over his shoulder to see one of his uncles up on his feet and getting ready to tell some  _ elaborate  _ story. 

“Oh, jeez,” Ray mumbled under his breath before turning back to look at Michael. 

Behind Michael, he could see another car pull up, which, again, was weird. He told himself not to get distracted by it, though, especially since he was still talking to Michael.

“What are you gonna do today?” He asked Michael, continuing to ignore the person who got out of the car.

“Griffon talked about doing a few things, but she didn't say what exactly,” Michael answered. 

“Your spending Christmas with the Ramseys, so whatever you do will be fucking awesome,” Ray's eyes lit up as he finished his sentence and Michael laughed.

As the person from the car got closer to where they stood, Ray was unable to keep on pretending like he didn't see them. His eyes flickered over to them and gasped to find who it was. 

“Hope I'm not interrupting anything here,” Joel said as he walked up and stood right next to Michael.

Michael's eyes widened – he even flinched a bit – at Joel. He frantically looked around them, making Ray tilt his head in confusion, and then Michael relaxed as he spotted Joel's car parked out front, between two other cars. 

“How did I not fucking hear you pull up?” He asked, “Or even, walk up to us?”

Joel smiled at him. “I would say I'm sorry for scaring you, but it was funny.” Michael narrowed his eyes at him and Joel looked away to face Ray.

“Hey, Joel,” Ray happily greeted him. 

Michael was now looking at Ray as well and he was smiling; all trace of his previous annoyance utterly gone. 

“I was thinking about waiting to see you when we got to work on Monday, _but_ ,” Joel looked down to grab something and Michael and Ray realized they hadn't even noticed Joel had been holding something under his arm the whole time. 

“I wasn't doing anything, so I decided to just come give it to you now,” the man finished as he lifted up the small and neatly wrapped square box. 

Michael covered his mouth with his hand to hold himself back from grinning, but it happened anyway, and Ray could tell, too. Simply hiding his mouth wasn't enough to hide that smile, especially with his dimples giving him away. Ray gently grabbed the box from Joel's hand and merely stared down at it, having no idea what to say or do. 

Joel glanced at Michael and Michael cleared his throat to and put his hand down to act  _ casual _ and like he wasn't just smiling uncontrollably. 

“Now Ray has two gifts to open tomorrow morning,” he joked. 

Joel actually laughed at that. Ray huffed, though he wasn't bothered by the joke. 

“Thanks, guys,” he said, “It means a lot.” 

“Yeah with that tone, I can tell it does,” Michael joked again.

Ray smiled brightly at him and shook his head, “Now I'm glad I didn't get you shit.”

Michael took a step back as he said, “I should get back home. I told Geoff I wouldn't be long.” He smiled at Joel, “Nice to see you, Joel.” Then he winked at Ray and turned around to walk off.

Ray felt some heat rise to his face when Michael winked at him, mainly because he wasn't sure what that meant. Although, a part of him had a feeling it had to do with Joel being there. 

“I'm going to go ahead and leave, too,” Joel spoke, getting Ray out of his thoughts.

Ray blinked hard and looked at him as he nodded. “Yeah, alright. I guess I'll see you on Monday?” 

“Yeah.” Joel turned away slightly, but he gave Ray a smile as he said softly, “Merry Christmas, Ray, and enjoy that loud company in there.”

Ray groaned. “No promises, but thanks, and Merry Christmas to you, too.” With that, Joel headed over to his car and got inside while Ray stood there and watched. 

He watched until Joel drove out of that spot and down the street, becoming further and further away, and then, out of sight. He looked down at the presents he held in his hands and smiled. That smile remained there on his face, even when he went back into the chaos going on inside his house. 

Christmas eve was finally not an exact repeat. 

And the next morning, he opened his eyes and stretched slowly before remembering that he had hid the two gifts under his bed. He would have put them under the tree, but that spot had already been occupied by the many other gifts from his relatives, so he decided on putting them in his room for safe keeping. 

Now that it was officially Christmas, he could see what Michael and  _ Joel  _ gave him. The corners of his lips rose as he reached underneath and pulled out the bag from Michael first. He sat up on his bed and placed the bag in front of him.

“Alright, jerk,” he spoke, “let's see what you gave me.” He swiftly pulled the tissue paper out of the bag and dug a hand inside. He felt something soft and... oddly shaped. 

Ray furrowed his eyebrows as he pulled the mysterious item out, but he breathed out a laugh when he saw it was a Waluigi plush.

“Nice,” he said as he looked over it. He went ahead and sat it down on his nightstand before digging into the bag again; this time, he pulled out a small bag of Skittles, and he laughed again. 

On the back of the candy bag was a sticky note that read:  _ Merry Christmas, Ray. Thought you could use something sweet. - From, your best fucking friend ever, Michael. _

“Thanks, man,” Ray said, although Michael wasn't there to hear it. He set the bag on the floor and reached back under his bed for Joel's present. 

It was so nicely wrapped that Ray almost didn't want to ruin it, yet he eagerly tore off the wrapping paper and tossed it out of his way. Halfway through unwrapping it, his jaw dropped to see a familiar black box with colorful designs on it. 

“No way,” he said under his breath, slowly opening up the lid on top of the box. “I can't fucking believe...” he trailed off as he pulled out what was inside. A wide and amazed smile started to form on his face as he examined the Tetris mug.

 

 


	3. Part Three

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> After like 10 months, I have COMPLETED this. Holy shit. Who even still cares or remembers??? I got a burst of inspiration last night to write so much and then I was like “This is a thing I need to complete still”. So it happened. Oh, yeah, this is strictly joelay but like.... I added in some Mavin somehow ??? For those who remember how Bend The Rules ended, Gavin’s not even there anymore at this point (for now, because ya know the sequel) but I still made Mavin happen a little, lmao. I’m trash and I’m sorry for everyone who was seriously waiting for this to be finished. But it’s finished. The Bending The Rules series is officially over, for reals. Unless I decide to do something else later- i mean what.

**December 31, 2014**

Michael looked at Ray with a small smile as he asked, “You ready?” Ray simply shrugged and Michael lifted his fist to knock on the door. The last time they were at Barbara's place for a New Years eve party, well... things took quite a turn toward the end, and they all, as a whole group, avoided speaking of it. But here they anyway, ready for round two, and Michael was sure things wouldn't go as they did last time. He wasn't planning on drinking enough to get genuinely drunk, much to Ray's relief.

The door swung open and the first thing they saw was a whoosh of blonde hair before they saw Barbara's excitedly smiling face. She ushered them inside and told them to make themselves comfortable. Michael glanced down at the white carpet and pursed his lips while Ray patted his back a few times before wandering over to where Miles and Chris were, talking on about some new game they were planning to buy and play together.

“How about a quick session next Tuesday when it comes out?” Miles asked Chris. Chris furrowed his eyebrows as he thought about it and then frowned.

“Mm, can't. I just started working and I already have a lot to do,” he answered.

“Oh, why the hell is everyone always working?” Miles grumbled as he sipped his drink and Ray noted that he even drank bitterly. Honestly, each of them were working at Rooster Teeth while Miles was just somewhat going to school. “Somewhat” because he had a small schedule that wouldn't get in the way of his determined search for a job.

Ray felt a little bad for him, sometimes. Miles had an interest in working with them at the company and not just so he could be with his friends. _Maybe I can throw in a good word for him_ , Ray thought to himself as he walked on to find someone else to talk to. 

Lindsay was in the kitchen with Barbara as they seemed to be experimenting with creating various alcoholic drinks. Ray made a face as he neared them.

“What the fuck is that supposed to be? _Oh god_ ,” he covered his nose as an odd aroma came from a few of the glasses. “Were you two already drunk before making those?”

“We haven't even had anything to drink yet,” Barbara corrected him. Lindsay smiled and nodded.

“We wanted to be sober to try our experiments.”

“So that we can either gag over how terrible they are or praise ourselves for creating little miracles.”

Ray and Lindsay both raised their eyebrows at that comment and looked at Barbara questioningly.

“I didn't know we were sudden parents,” Lindsay joked. Barbara slowly widened her eyes as she thought back to the way she had worded that. Oh. Yet she grinned. 

“Hey, Ray,” a voice said from behind. Ray looked over his shoulder to find Kara walking into the kitchen to stand next to the other girls, and just like him, she looked disgusted and confused at the drinks.

“Don't judge yet,” Barbara told her, holding up one of the filled shot glasses. “You never know what you might be missing.”

“I'm even more happy now that I don't drink,” Ray mumbled under his breath. The girls didn't hear him due to the music playing around them. 

Kara hesitantly took the glass Barbara offered her and waited for her and Lindsay to pick one up. They clinked their glasses together, the liquid from each shot swirling, and downed the drinks in one gulp. Part of Ray wanted to look away in case things got a little more gross than they already were, but the other part of him sighed and kept on watching in amusement. He was glad he did. The girls swallowed the drinks with ease, but as soon as the flavor settled on their taste buds, their jaws dropped in horror. Barbara ran to the sink and turned the faucet on as she ducked her face underneath the running water while Lindsay and Kara whined about how she needed to hurry up so they could have their turn. Ray leaned across the counter and laughed softly to himself. 

“So,” he chimed in, “How was Christmas?” Lindsay and Kara glared at him and he just continued to smile. 

“What the hell did I miss?” Arryn asked as she approached the counter and stood next to Ray. Ray gave her a look that said “You don't really want to know” and maybe she didn't, because she asked nothing else. 

Ray was going to answer her, however, except that his phone vibrated in his pocket and the curiosity of who was actually texting him when all of his closest friends were there hit him hard. He stepped away from the girls as he took his phone out and saw it was a new text message from someone he didn't have saved in his contacts. 

> **Unknown Number [8:45 PM]** : Michael told me you two were going to Barbara's New Years eve party. Surprised me a little. I don't take you as much of the partying type. 

Ray's brows squeezed together as he looked around the room. No one was on their phone or glancing in his direction. Michael was sitting on the couch, mindlessly sipping on a beer as he chatted with Miles and Chris who had made their way closer to him. The girls were still in the kitchen with their mess, too occupied for anything else. And here was he, standing in the middle of the living room, confused out of his mind. 

> **Ray [8:46 PM]** : Who's this?
> 
> ** Unknown Number [8:48 PM] ** : Oh, shit. Sorry. It's Joel.

Ray knew the look on his face was comical – eyes practically popping out of his head and mouth agape. “How did you get my-” but he immediately shot daggers toward Michael through his glare. Michael could feel Ray staring at him, but he chose to ignore it and also hoped his smile wouldn't make an appearance. Ray sighed deeply. Michael enjoyed playing “wingman” or some shit. But for what? There was no reason for him to do that. It wasn't like Ray cared about getting closer to Joel... 

How did that conversation between Michael and Joel even go, though? “Hey, Joel.” “Oh, hey Michael.” insert some random topic that was brought up that could possibly lead to New Years eve plans and Michael mentioning the party he and Ray were going to attend. But from there, Ray couldn't figure out how giving his number to Joel even happened. Something must have been said, on one of their parts for Michael to just be like “Here's Ray's number!”

Had Joel... had Joel  _ asked _ for it? No, why would Joel want it? Wait, why was Ray still even contemplating it? He didn't care. Whatever, he had Joel's number now. It meant nothing special. He had a lot of people's numbers that he hardly ever talked to. 

> ** Ray [8:51 PM] ** : Hi Joel. Having a good night?

Casual talk. He could do that. It was definitely easier through text messages.

> ** Joel [8:52 PM] ** : Nothing exciting, but I'm relaxing. How's the party?
> 
> ** Ray [8:53 PM] ** : Pretty much going the way I expect anything to go around my friends. 
> 
> **Joel [8:55 PM]** : That's a good thing right?
> 
> **Ray [8:57 PM]** : Yeah, man. I can imagine it being better if you were here.

Ray hit “send” and then read over exactly what he had typed. Wait, what.  _ I can imagine it being better if you were here _ ?!  _ Who the fuck says that to a co-worker?! Or... friend? Are Joel and I considered friends? Well, he did get me a present... a really amazing one, too. But co-workers did that. Yeah, co-workers did Secret Santa crap. But we didn't do Secret Santa at work. Joel was being... nice? Joel's a nice guy, yeah. That didn't count us as friends, right? Or... THIS ISN'T ABOUT THAT, RAY! YOU BASICALLY JUST TOLD THE GUY THAT YOU WISHED HE WAS HERE! You don't wish that!  _ Ray swallowed the lump in his throat.  _ … Do you? _

Oh, god. Ray needed some air, maybe. He pretended not to feel the text responsive come in as he put his phone back in his pocket. He started walking away when he noticed his best friend had disappeared from his sight. He wandered around the small house looking for him, admittedly kind of worried, until he ended up back in the living room again. Furrowing his eyebrows, Ray was starting to believe Michael left without saying anything. And then something moving caught his attention by his peripheral vision and he saw Michael through the sliding glass door, standing outside with his arms crossed.

“There you are,” he said as he slid open the door and stepped out into the chilly night air.

Michael turned to him and sighed. “Hey. Sorry, I just needed some air and time to think.”

 _I'm in the same boat._ But Ray wouldn't say that out loud.  “About what?”

When Michael gave Ray a mere shrug in response, Ray frowned. That shrug and silence was enough of an answer for him. He walked up to stand right next to his best friend, because he wasn't sure if bringing the subject up was the right idea. So he was originally going to stay quiet about it, until Michael began to talk about it.

“It's funny, because this time last year, I didn't even have feelings for him yet,” his voice was so soft that if Ray hadn't been paying attention, he wouldn't have heard a thing.

“Well, as far as you know,” Ray reminded him.

Michael nodded, “Yeah, I probably did have a thing for him already; I was just too stupid to realize it.”

“Man, you weren't stupid for not realizing your feelings sooner. You had parents that were fucking abusive and you didn't want to do or feel anything that would upset them. You had a reason – a very sad and unnecessary reason, but a reason.”

The corners of Michael's lips rose slightly and he turned back to stare out at the lawn, or as much of it as he could see with only the dim porch lighting.

“Did he ever tell you how he tried kissing you at midnight?” Ray then asked, since they were on the topic of it already anyway. He looked at Michael for the answer, but he saw the way Michael's brows furrowed and he seemed to be frantically trying to recall being told this, or trying to remember it almost happening.

“He never told you?” Michael shook his head. Ray sighed. “Oh, damn... I wish I wouldn't have said anything now.”

“No, tell me.”

“Michael, I don't think that's a good idea, considering you're already beating yourself up with thinking about him at all. I mean, why would you let yourself do that? Why you gotta hurt yourself, Michael? You don't deserve it, much like he doesn't deserve you,” and his eyes widened, because he just kept going on and on and hadn't been able to stop himself until he realized what he really said.

But instead of receiving a glare or a snark for a remark from Michael, Michael let out a breathy laugh that had absolutely no trace of any humor or joy laced within it.

“Yeah, I keep telling myself that, Ray, but I still fucking have these nights where little things remind me of him and I end up alone somewhere like an idiot, reminiscing about every stupid thing,” he gestured to the porch, “For example...”

“I get it,” Ray answered with a nod, “he was your first love.”

Michael was now tapping his foot impatiently before he fully turned to Ray, his eyes pleading as he said, “So, tell me about that midnight kiss.”

“Michael-”

“Ray, just...” Michael ran his fingers through his finger and sighed, “He never fucking told me that, and it's not fair, because I was drunk as shit and I'd like to know what the fuck what happened... you know, besides me throwing up on Barb's carpet in there,” he nodded towards the living room. “Ray, _please_.”

Ray pursed his lips as he looked over Michael's face. There were many things he never remembered clearly, mainly because he didn't care to permanently tattoo those memories into his brain, but he could repeat every single detail about that New Years eve party. Besides, it wasn't everyday that Michael fucking Jones actually _begged._ So, he inhaled sharply before starting.

“Okay, well, you were drunk-”

“Don't state the obvious, Ray,” Michael quickly cut him off, leaving Ray to huff and cross his arms.

“Do you want to know the story or not?” Michael smiled innocently at as he nodded and Ray almost made a sarcastic comment to him about how “cute” he was being, but he opted to merely rolling his eyes and trying with his story again.

He cleared his throat and rubbed his hands together, “Okay, you were drunk and there was a moment where you kind of blacked out on the couch, but! You _did_ wake up,” he had to quickly add that in when he saw the slight concern on Michael's face. “I was right there for you when you woke up, because you, my friend, could barely keep yourself on your feet without losing balance.”

Michael shook his head from just imagining himself in that sort of state. How stupid was he to allow himself to get _that_ drunk at seventeen when he was still living at home with his more than religious and strict parents?

“After a moment of you trying to figure out what song was playing, I walked away to get something in the kitchen,” Ray continued, “and when I looked back at you, I saw one of the most hilarious things I have ever seen in my entire life, and I'm still fucking pissed at myself for not recording it.”

“Oh, god. What was it?” Michael asked, voice strained and face scrunched up.

Ray couldn't stop the grin from forming on his face as he said, “You dancing, or should I say, _dancing_ ,” he air quoted the word, and Michael cringed, which only made Ray laugh.

“Why didn't you fucking stop me, then?!”

“Because you honestly looked like you were having a blast, man,” Ray said through his laughter. Michael shoved lightly him and Ray gasped.

“Alright, alright,” he said, holding his hands up in defense, “It wasn't that funny, anyway.”

“Damn straight.”

“Moving on – I saw you dancing and I _was_ going to walk back over to you and calm you down, but then I noticed Gavin walking up to you.”

“ _Fuck yeah!” Michael shouted as began spinning around, his arms wide open._

_Gavin shook his head quickly walked over to him. Michael stopped what he was doing when he noticed Gavin next to him. He grinned at the Brit._

“ _Hi, Gavin,” Michael greeted, his words a bit slurred._

_Gavin smiled and held up his water bottle. “You want need some of this.”_

“ _Perfect!” Michael shouted excitedly as he snatched the bottle from Gavin's hand. “I'm like, really fucking thirsty, ya know?” Gavin nodded._

_Michael took a chug of water and swallowed, letting out a loud “Ah!”_

_The room suddenly went quiet and Barbara clapped her hands loudly._

“ _I'm going to unmute the TV, because it's almost midnight!” She announced, and the room was filled with cheers._

_Barbara unmuted the show and everyone went back to their conversations, side glancing the clock as they did so. Michael scoffed._

“ _Who cares about TV?” He asked, and then laughed._

_Gavin offered Michael more water and Michael happily accepted. Gavin patted Michael's back and smiled._

“ _It's your first time?” He asked._

_Michael furrowed his eyebrows and stared wide eyed at Gavin. “Gavin, please.”_

_Gavin blinked, but gaped at Michael when he realized what his question probably sounded like to Michael. “Oh, no,” he shook his head, “I meant getting drunk.”_

_Michael only smiled though, and he set the water bottle on the coffee table. Gavin sighed, but halfway through his sigh, he ended up just holding his breath as hands cupped his face. He looked at Michael, not knowing what to say or do, but he really couldn't move anyway._

_Michael's thumbs stroked Gavin's cheeks. “Your face is so scratchy,” he told Gavin, and scrunched up his nose._

_Gavin didn't want to stay silent, but his throat felt dry, and his heart was beginning to pound. He managed to laugh, or at least do some sort of a laugh. Here was Michael, Gavin's undeniable crush, holding his face, gently caressing it, and Gavin could only stare at him in amazement. But that's what crushes did to a person. Crushes made them unable to react, made knees turn to jello, hearts race rapidly, and palms sweat, even if it was just a bit._

_Michael smiled, and Gavin felt his heart do a leap._

“ _And your eyes...” Michael said, slowly putting his hands down._

_Gavin blinked and raised an eyebrow. “What about them?”_

“ _They're really...” Michael squinted his eyes as he examined them, “Well, sometimes they're like extremely green with blue and brown, and then they're just green. And sometimes they're like blue. Light blue. Why?”_

_Gavin couldn't help but grin. Did he even want to answer that 'why'? It was such a silly thing to ask someone. And so, he shrugged as a response. Michael laughed. That laugh never changed. Besides Michael's smile, his dimples, and personality, his laugh was definitely a favorite for Gavin. He liked how genuine and almost child-like it sounded._

“ _Your eyes are really lovely,” Gavin told Michael, running his fingers through his hair to give him something to do other than just look at Michael. He curled his toes and put his hand down. “The nicest shade of brown I've ever seen,” he added._

“ _I'm not brown,” Michael said, looking confused with his eyebrows furrowed. “Brown man...” he rubbed his chin. His eyes lit up as if he had come up with an answer. “That's Ray!” He pointed to where Ray was now standing. Michael then pointed at Gavin, “What are you even talking about?”_

_Gavin looked at Ray before smiling at Michael. “Nothing,” he answered._

“ _Here it goes!” Lindsay shouted as she jumped up from her seat._

“ _Finally,” Ray said, joining Barbara's side with his arms crossed._

_They all turned their attentions to the screen._

“ _Ten!” Lindsay started._

“ _Nine!” Barbara helped._

“ _Eight!” Ray shouted, sounding a bit unenthusiastic as he threw his hands up, but he smiled._

“ _Seven!” Lindsay went on._

“ _Six!” They all, but Michael and Gavin, shouted. “Five! Four! Three! Two!”_

“ _Uno!” Ray finished, yelling it out loudly._

“ _Wooo!” The others cheered._

_Barbara clapped as she jumped up and down. She turned to Ray and wrapped her arms around him as she kissed him. Ray's eyebrows rose in surprise and he almost lost balance, but he contained himself as he returned her kiss. Chris smiled at Kara, but Kara merely grinned at him before leaning closer to Lindsay and pressing her lips against hers instead of Chris'._

“ _Don't feel bad,” Miles whispered to Chris. “You still got me.”_

_Chris looked at Miles, his eyes widening slightly, but he didn't even get to say anything, because Miles' lips were already on his. Gavin watched as his friends kissed each other. He looked at the screen and saw people kissing on there as well as confetti fell on top of them. Swallowing the lump in his throat and wiping his sweaty palms on his jeans, Gavin turned back to face Michael._

_He wouldn't dare..._

_Because no one needed to even dare him to._

_Gavin licked his lips as he slowly leaned in. He tried ignoring the nervous feeling inside him. He wasn't going to let a few (or maybe more) butterflies stop him from doing this. Maybe Michael wouldn't remember. Maybe it wasn't the best idea to snag a kiss while Michael was drunk. And maybe Gavin was just kidding himself, but he couldn't stop himself as he closed his eyes, feeling Michael's warm breath on his face._

_Michael grabbed Gavin's shoulder to keep his balance. His stomach was turning on him and all he could see was a blur before he turned his head and threw up onto the floor. Gavin's eyes shot back open and he gasped at the sight next to him. He jumped back and covered with his mouth and nose with his hands. Michael gagged again, making a terribly loud noise that made everyone pull away from each other._

“And then I ran over to your side to help you,” Ray finished.

Michael shuddered as he played the whole thing how he imagined it in his mind, and he didn't like it.

“Can we just... go back inside?” He asked Ray, feeling himself shiver as the wind started to blow.

Ray shivered as well and nodded, “Yeah, that sounds like a good idea.” For a moment, he forgot about the whole Joel situation and even forgot to confront Michael about giving away his number like it was candy and then ask him _why_ he did it in the first place until he was home and in his bed. 

_ I can imagine it being better if you were here. _

“Oh, fuck,” he breathed out, reaching down to his pocket to take his phone out. Two new messages. _FUCK!_

> **Joel [8:59 PM]** : You mean that? 
> 
> **Joel [12:00 AM]** : Happy New Years, Ray.

A rush of guilt ran through Ray as he threw his head back on his pillow and stared up at the ceiling. It was nearing one AM now. 

“Happy New Years, Joel,” he whispered. 

 

 

* * *

 

The next time Ray came face-to-face with Joel was the following week on Monday. Neither of them had any other sort of communication with each other after that night. Although, Ray was tempted to shoot him a quick text various times throughout the day. Not knowing what he could possibly say held him back from doing so. He kept making excuses for himself, too, such as saying that he needed to still confront Michael about this before texting Joel again when he knew that he didn't care anymore that Michael had given his number to Joel. 

They greeted each other with a smile, but Ray stopped in his tracks on his way into the Achievement Hunter office. Michael looked up at him and raised an eyebrow as he wondered why Ray was just standing there with a blank expression on his face. Ray released the breath he'd been holding and marched right out of the room. Geoff didn't get the chance to ask him why. None of the other Achievement Hunters did. They sat there in silence, equally confused. 

“Joel!” Ray called after him, though he shut his mouth and tried turning around to leave when he saw Joel was already talking to Burnie. The two of them turned their heads to look at Ray and Ray knew it was too late to make his escape when he had shouted Joel's name loud enough for everyone else in the hallway with their doors open (or closed) could hear him. Seriously, what was he – some dude chasing after his lover at the airport in hopes of stopping them from leaving? Well, that's what it felt liked and it made is cheeks heat up at the thought, because it wasn't like that at all. Not really. 

“Hey, Ray,” Burnie greeted him with that gentle smile of his. He glanced back and forth between the two, noting how Joel was staring intently at Ray, and sighed. “I'll leave you two to talk about... whatever it is you might need to talk about. Uh, catch you later,” he patted Joel on the shoulder and turned on his heel before heading off. 

With Burnie gone and them pretty much alone in the alone in the hallway together, Ray forced himself to look Joel in the eyes and the last thing he thought he'd see was the softest of gazes directed at him. 

“Good morning, Ray,” Joel greeted. Such a simple greeting, yet it was then that Ray felt _grateful_ for Michael giving Joel his number, but he would never actually thank Michael for that. No, he wasn't going to deal with the smug smile Michael would give him and double the teasing. 

And it was then that things began to change.

Their text and hallway conversations increased, more and more with every passing week, to the point where Ray didn't think twice about calling Joel his friend. Joel was his  _ friend _ , and the reality of that was why Ray came into work everyday feeling warm inside and brightening whenever he saw Joel. 

Things were changing between them, but he only supposed it was their friendship growing, because he ignored the nagging voice that told him to look deeper and read between the lines. That nagging voice was named Michael Jones and Ray merely thought Michael was being Michael.

“One day, you'll know what I mean. The both of you will,” Michael muttered to him on his way out of the room. Ray smiled and shook his head, oblivious to how right his best friend actually was. 

 

* * *

 

**June 15, 2015**

 

A knock at the door made them all turn to find Joel walk in. Joel made a face from seeing them all looking at him, so slowly, they all turned away to mind their own business.

“Ray,” Joel said, and Ray looked at him again, “Ready for lunch?”

Michael looked over at Ray and smiled slyly at him. Ray rolled his eyes at Michael and nodded at Joel.

“Yeah, I'm coming,” he said as he got up from his desk.

“Have fun,” Geoff whispered.

Ray sighed and took off his headphones before following Joel out of there. Once the door was closed again, Michael grinned.

“Ten dollars says they finally make out,” Michael said, and the other guys laughed.

Ray's eye twitched as he heard those words from the other side of the door. Joel, luckily, hadn't heard a thing from stepping away for a bit to quickly retrieve something from his office, but when he came back and saw the slight annoyance on Ray's face, he couldn't help but ask, “What's going on?”

Ray blinked hard and looked at Joel, realizing that he had returned. “Oh, uh...” he gestured towards the Achievement Hunter's office door and he started to think back to every little thing Michael had said to him when it came to him and Joel.

“ _I hate how obvious it is. You two frustrate the hell out of me.”_

And slowly, he smiled to himself. Oh, Michael.

“Nothing,” he answered Joel, “Let's just go eat. I'm fucking starving.”

Joel nodded and the two started heading on their way out, although Ray was mildly distracted with the way Joel started to touch his face. It had been such a subtle thing, too, where they were about to exit the building and just as Ray opened the door, Joel gently pinched his cheek, and now that they were halfway to Joel's car, Ray was trying to pull away.

“Are you gonna stop anytime soon?” He asked, though he was grinning.

“Is it bothering you?” Joel questioned as he momentarily stopped and raised an eyebrow.

In the most serious tone Ray could muster up, he said, “Yes.”

“Then, no,” Joel simply responded with.

Ray laughed and shook his head while Joel finally put his hands down to take out his car keys from his pocket.

“You're an asshole,” Ray told him after he regained himself from laughing.

Joel furrowed his eyebrows as he unlocked the car. “ _I'm_ the asshole?”

“Uh, yeah.”

Joel actually appeared to be contemplating it for a moment until he shrugged and opened the door to the driver's seat.

“I don't see what you mean,” he said to Ray, “Just get inside, because like you, I'm fucking starving,” he went ahead and got in to turn on the vehicle.

“Right,” Ray nodded, but as he went to tug at the car door's handle, he found that his side was still locked. “Joel?” Joel couldn't hear him, though, because he was already inside with his door closed.

Ray huffed and knocked on the window a few times until Joel finally rolled it down. Ray peeked in a bit to see Joel staring at him as if he was the baffled one.

“What are you doing out there?” He then asked Ray. “I told you, I'm hungry.”

“You kind of didn't unlock the door for me,” Ray answered, raising his eyebrows at him.

“What do you mean _kind of_? How do I _kind of_ not unlock a door?”

“It means you're _kind of_ an asshole and I'm going to unlock the door myself,” Ray reached his arm and pressed the button as Joel sat back in his seat and burst into laughter. _Asshole._

Ray shook his head as he opened the door and finally got in. Now seated next to Joel, Ray squinted his eyes at him and crossed his arms, but Joel continued to laugh, and although Ray wanted to put on an act like he was mad, he couldn't. Joel was genuinely pleased with himself and something about the way he was laughing, eyes slowly watering, was quite a sight to Ray.

“I'll give it to you, Joel; that was a good one.”

Joel inhaled sharply to calm himself down, “You don't have to tell me what I already know.”

“No, I think I do, because there are some things you just don't know.”

“Oh, yeah?”

“Yeah, for example... how adorable I am,” Ray gestured to his own face as he grinned crookedly.

Joel rubbed his chin as he nodded, “No, but I'm _pretty sure_ I knew that already.”

Ray's grin faltered a bit, but not enough to throw Joel off, and Joel said no more as he put his car in reverse and started driving out of the parking spot.

“Thanks,” Ray finally spoke after a moment. “I think,” he mumbled that last part. Joel side glanced him with a smirk.

“What, for saying that I know you're adorable? Oh, you're _very_ welcome,” there was that playfulness in his tone again that had Ray groaning.

 _You're adorable, too_. He could have said it, maybe. He could have said it without it being weird. Friends said things like that to each other, especially if they were close. He constantly told Barbara how pretty he thought she was and liked reminding Lindsay that her smile and laugh were contagious and his favorite. He even admitted to Miles once that he was “not that bad looking”. He told Chris he was the geekiest person he'd ever know and he loved him for it. And he sometimes poked Michael's dimple and cooed, “Aw, how cute.” while Michael made that dimple disappear by scowling at him in return. There was never any harm in any of it, because they were all friends who cared immensely about each other. There was just nothing wrong with complimenting anyone in general, knowing them well or not.

But maybe he didn't want Joel to think his compliment to him was a we're-just-friends-and-nothing-else-ever kind of compliment.

Maybe Michael was right-NO. No. No. No.

Ray shook his head and took a deep breath as he looked over at Joel concentrating on the road. The corners of his lips rose. One thing's for sure, Joel seriously _was_ adorable.

“So,” he clapped his hands together, earning Joel's attention as they stopped at a red light. “Where are we going?” Even he could notice how he sounded a little too cheerful. Joel returned his smile.

“It's a surprise. I know you _love_ surprises.”

Ray's smile fell as he looked forward. That didn't sound fun. “Well, then.” And Joel was laughing once more.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Of course if you haven't read "A Week's Worth" then you don't know what happens next, but if you did, you know :D  
> anyway, I am glad I wrote this little side story for the series and wow, I'm sorry it took me a year to finish, but I didn't COMPLETELY abandon it. Heh... ahhh, thanks for reading. :)


End file.
